oops..

[alyssa]

ok soo.. the maid in my boyfriends house did not know about the bunny seperation. (they were being kept in diffrent rooms), so when she was cleaning, she put them 2gether in the bathroom, she left them in there while she cleaned the whole house, andwe are pretty sure they did the nasty. because when we first seperated them, they had already tried

 

ok so my question is..

1) i need information on where i can find help on how to deal with rabbit babbies (maybe a forum..or a website..)

and

2) i know i cant ask questions about breeding here but can i post pictures of the babies and stuff? or is any buddy breeding related stuff out lawed?

 

plz dont bash me, i really didnt mean for this to happen and we tried our hardest to prevent it.

 

 

[BinkyBunny]

Don’t worry, you wont’ get bashed here.  We try to maintain a respectful board even when there are opposing views.    In addition, INTENTIONAL breeding is not allowed, but “oops” litters are okay.  We try and help the best we can. 

Here are some links to help you out:

Pregnancy/Babies – Uh Oh, Surprise Litter?:

• http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html
• http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html
• http://www.rabbit.org/care/newborn.html
• http://www.mybunny.org/info/newborn.htm

And here are some threads from past discussion regarding others suprise litters:

Babies – What to do about a surprise litter:

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=54&forumid=2&tpage=1&view=topic&postid=23891#23891

https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=54&forumid=3&tpage=1&view=topic&postid=31205#38125

Also, there are others here who have been in your situation, so they may be able to chime in.

 If she is pregnant, she’ll start nesting in a couple of weeks (pull out her fur on her chest and gather soft materials) and many mothers “to be” get extremely territorial. 

You’ll also want to keep the male separated even after she gives birth since females can get pregnant within 24 hours of giving birth.

[Beka27]

i’ve heard others talk about vets terminating pregnancies.  is this only done if they are in the process of spaying and discovers she’s pregnant, or will they do it at any other time as well?

[Sarita]

Spaying will terminate the pregnancy – if this just happened I would highly recommend that you take her to the vet for spaying and explain to the vet what happened. My vet has done this with many of our rescued rabbits. Most of the time when we get a female from the shelter that is the first thing we do is to get her spayed if she is healthy because we don’t want to take the chance of litters.

[Beka27]

thank you Sarita. i’ve wondered about that. does it matter that the female is still very young, i think she said 3 months… will the vet do it early in order to end the pregnancy?

i really do think that would be the best thing. you are so new to rabbits and it’s unfair to you and the buns to have an accidental litter when you’re still trying to figure this whole thing out. you’ll probably end up spending quadruple the spay amount if this litter happens.

[Sarita]

Well, that would be something to discuss with the vet. I think if the rabbit was large enough and healthy enough and it was an emergency such as this and the vet felt comfortable doing this then it would be okay.

[alyssa]

i think the emergency spay is the best idea. i just cant beleive this, if the petstore didnt lie to us in the 1st place.. this just wouldnt be a problem.
my boyfriends little sister already knows the bunny has mated and is awaiting patiently for babies, so i have no idea how we are gonna explain the “emergency spay” to her, without her screaming “UR GONNA KILL THE BABY BUNNIES?!?!?!”.

about nestboxes, we have a plastic igloo.. will that work? or some suggested a box, like cardboard?

the reason im still asking about that is that in the end, they are my boyfriends rabbits and its overall his decision, since they are his pets, and if he chooses not to go thru with it, id like the babies to atleast be well cared for.

the boy is getting neutered soon, and im guessing we should spay mommy after the babies are weaned.. or wait longer?
in the mean time, to make sure this doesnt happen again, chewy will be staying at my house until he gets neutered, i dont have any other bunnies for him to play with.. but its for his own good, with my bfs house being as it is, its impossible for us to keep them seperate, with the maid, and his lil sister, and her friends its just impossible.
finding homes for the bunnies wont be a problem.. but we will make sure to get them sexed BY A VET and tell the owners in advance what we went thru

[Sarita]

Well, if that is going to be his decision and I hope it’s not then you would want to spay mom after weaning – 8 weeks is when you should wean. Well finding homes might be a challenge unless you already have friends and family who would be committed to taking the babies.

The male can still get the female too 30 days after neutering so it’s good you are taking him to your house for now.

[alyssa]

ya, we have friends and family lined up and prepared..
i also mentioned that the mommy madison is a bit standoffish with us, shes not scared she just doesnt like being cuddled or petted, but she will eat out of our hands. does that mean she wont like us around the babies?

i told my bf about the emergency spay and managed to somehow get him out of his 1st “HELL NO!”.. he went on google and saw pictures of baby bunnies but when i reminded him how much poop 10 or so extra bunnies would leave around his room.. he said hed think about it. also, since madison is pretty young, that he would have to be handfeeding babies if she doesnt accept them and that is he prepared to be taking dead/unhealthy babies out of the box.

both chewy and madison are acting pretty normal.. i brought chewy home and hes busy pooping all over his new surroundings, he stole my dogs tennis ball and now my dog is outside the xpen given him the look of death lol my dog is about the same size as chewy so its pretty hilarious

[Beka27]

i do hope you can talk him into the emergency spay. it would be best for everyone involved. once the babies are sexed they have to be housed separately until adopted or altered, which requires a lot of room. babies are hard work, messy, expensive, and while you may be able to “find homes”, GOOD HOMES are not easy to come by. anyone who takes the babies would have to agree to spay/neuter them, and if they won’t, YOU would have to do the surgeries yourself BEFORE adopting them out. could you afford to have anywhere from 4-10 babies altered, as well as the parents?

it’s not that the petstore lied to you (i don’t think), it’s more likely that they are just not that well trained. it’s an easy mistake to make, even for experienced rabbit people.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hi Alyssa

So…here’s how I think you could handle an emergency spaying/abortion and the little sister…You could tell the little sister the bunny is going to the vet to see if she’s pregnant and if she’s not, she’s going to be spayed. When she comes home spayed (whether she was or wasn’t pregnant) you can tell the little sister that she wasn’t pregnant and now she’s spayed so she won’t get pregnant.
This could be a good time to talk to her about pet overpopulation and why it’s important to spay/neuter, even if baby animals are cute and exciting, it’s best not to have them if it can be avoided!

I would say it’s best to try to get her in asap. Do you think you can get her in this weekend or early next week? Keep us posted Alyssa!

[Beka27]

also, if you decide to go thru with this, you should have every one of your prospective adopters (friends and family as you say) read up on what is REALLY required to care for a house rabbit.

vet costs (more expensive than for a dog or cat)

bunnyproofing

fresh greens every day

minimum 4 hours run outside of the cage per day

chewing, marking, digging (sometimes even after altering).

if they’ve never had bunnies, they’ll be in for a shock. RABBITS ARE NOT THE RIGHT PET FOR EVERYONE. just b/c they’re cute, doesn’t mean they’re easy. please make sure they know what to expect well ahead of time, it’s not fair to have the buns bouncing from home to home b/c people are not prepared.

you can direct them to this site, and/or the House Rabbit Society (rabbit.org)

edited:  i like what K&K said about telling her she’s going for the check-up to see if she’s pregnant.  there’s no need to go into sepcifics with her.

[MarkBun]

For the record, Maryann got pregnant when she was very young. So young, in fact, that she wasn’t able to produce milk for the babies and they all died. I couldn’t comment if your bun would be young enough for the same situation but it is something to think about as well with very young buns.

[Beka27]

^i didn’t know that Markus. did you try to bottle feed at all and it didn’t work?

[KatnipCrzy]

If you go thru with Madison having the babies- that means that Chewy and Madison will be separated for quite a long time- at very least 3- 4 months.  With them being in separate households for so long- you will be basically introducing them as strangers when they do meet up again.  So there is no guarantee that the bonding will be easy and go well.  I would also expect Madison to be set back in her socialization and bonding to YOU her humans- as she will no longer be your little baby- she will be a Momma and that will hopefully be her first concern.  I would also expect to see some set back with litter training- due to hormones and how long you will have to wait to spay her- littertraining will probably not be on track with her until the babies are born, weaned, gone, her milk has dried up, and a month or so after she has been spayed.

So you have Chewy at your house now, that is good.  But if Madison has babies- you have to have your boyfriend PROMISE that he will not keep one of the babies instead of re-introducing Chewy after they have been fixed.  Baby bunnies are cute- and will be hard to resist.  And I am sure his little sister will want to keep one.  But all the rabbits you have need to be spayed/neutered- and if his sister keeps one- even if Chewy and Madison are fixed- the baby will need to be fixed too.  Rabbits know when other rabbits are in the home- and an intact bunny kept in another part of the house can cause undesirable behaviors in your pair.  And if she keeps one- then it will be alone- so she would probably keep 2.  Can you afford to have 4 bunnies spayed/neutered.   And all of the bunnies are close enough in age that they will go thru their “naughty” teenager years at approx the same time!  That is alot of bunny behavior to deal with!

[alyssa]

broward has a rescue for rabbits, so if anything, if his sister wants one really really bad, we can adopt a spayed/neutered pair, because she is very responsible. keeping any babies is out of the question.. there is way too much poop all over the place as it is.
uve gotta understand, if it was up to me, madison would be off to the vet right now, but.. it really isnt. i think he might change his mind when he thinks about it, but trying to force him to get her spayed will just make him stubborn, so i pleaded my case and just let it be.

chewy is perfect at my house, hes doing well and i have him in an x-pen, neutering is $130 at my local vet and i swear i just want to keep him and neuter him. hes such a good rabbit, i dont want hormones to change him

[charlie82]

I’m sorry that you are in this situation….also just something to add… It is not uncommon for very young does to die giving birth because they simply aren’t old/big/strong enough to cope with having babies and quite often there are complications, is your boyfriend wanting to take this risk with a rabbit he loves?. If I were in this situation I would have an emergency spay done. There are enough accidental litters and rabbits in rescues needing homes. I would show your bf this thread. I have recently had a litter here and lost many nights sleep worrying about them and wondering if I would be able to find good homes. It’s easy enough to say that you have family and friends willing to take on a bunny but it’s more realistic to expect that they don’t really know what owning a rabbit entails. It is very expensive to feed a nursing rabbit and her kits, as well as keeping them clean. Their bedding has to be changed every day and they make A LOT of mess. Also it is very difficult to let them go and not get attached so you will probably find yourself wanting to keep one or two. Sometimes the ‘cuteness’ overrides our senses….the very reason so many rabbits are bought on impulse.

[bunnytowne]

oh noo what a situation yes happened to me too. and only 4 babies and wow once they started hopping out of the nest what a poop pee mess and that was just with 4 babies. yes my hubby stubborn about altering buns too. so I am goign to have to sneak this in a few months he wanted to breed her I said NO WAY   there is no profit in selling bunnies. I am glad mine is neutered phew. I will have him watch that video Earthlings maybe wake him up. good you have Chewy adn it is quite an expense neuter/spay all those buns at the same time.

[kimberleyanddarren]

i am sorry this has happened any idea what you are going to do?

[Scarlet_Rose]

alyssa, do you have any update for us? I think that whatever you decide will be the best choice in your situation. Please let us know, we’re here to help and we know accidental litters happen and this was not intentional!

[alyssa]

the answer is a no for the spay, beleive me i really tried, but the whole family was against it, and i really cant face the entire clan. they dont know as much, but they did say after 1 litter, they will spay madison, and chewy is getting neutered next week. i didnt know alot about rabbits before, and i wouldve wanted baby bunnies too, but they just dont care how hard it is to have a litter or how much it costs, at this point.. im just going to help them get prepared and raise healthy babies (hopefully). if the mother does reject them, ive handraised cats before and ive been reading up on bunnies. as for homes for the little guys, ive got a few friends who ive been keeping updated about the forum and bunny care and they each are willing to take on the responsibility and i kno they will take good care of them.
madison has been acting pretty strange, become a bit more skidish, she pretty much loves her igloo and her private box and when shes out and u come in the room, she gets up, gives a good couple of thumps and runs

[rabbitsmba]

Tell your boyfriend an unspayed rabbit has an 80% chance of dying from reproductive cancers.

Sorry you are in this situation.

[Author]

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